Cambon Bros. v. Suthon
Cambon Bros. v. Suthon
Opinion of the Court
There was oral argument, and five briefs have been filed, on this motion to dismiss. The matter has impressed us throughout as being in the nature of a tempest in a teapot. Mrs. Lucius Suthon and her four children, Hugh, Fannie, Mary, and Georgina Suthon, executed a mortgage for a large amount in favor of the plaintiffs,
The proceedings had in this suit, therefore, after the death of Mrs. Suthon, were, in so fax' as the interests of her legal representatives were concerned, simply null and void; non avenue, not taken-place, as the French would say.
In view of that legal situation, the plaintiffs, Cambon Bros., applied to this court to treat as null and void, as not having taken place, all that was done in the suit aftei- the death of Mrs. Suthon, in so far as the intex*ests of her legal representatives are concerned, and to make these legal representatives parties, and to proceed in the suit as against them, starting from that time.
These representatives having been accordingly made parties, they, except Hugh Suthon, have moved to dismiss the appeal.
That is a question properly to be considered on the merits, not on motion to dismiss.
In tbe case of Bell v. Mix, 17 La. 467, also cited in support of tbe motion to dismiss, tbe facts were that at tbe January, 1840, term of court, on suggestion of defendant’s death, counsel for plaintiff and appellant obtained a continuance of the case for making tbe beirs of defendant parties; and that at tbe February, 1841, term, tbe defendant’s beirs had not yet been made parties. Tbe court said:
“A motion to'dismiss is now pressed upon us; we think it must prevail, as the party has suffered more than 12 months to elapse without using any diligence whatever to prosecute this appeal.”
It will be observed that, for all that appears, tbe appellant in that case was apparently not prosecuting tbe appeal, and might as a matter of fact have abandoned it. Tbe court bad good reason to believe from the circumstances that he bad; whereas an inference of that kind in tbe present case would be absurd.
Tbe motion to dismiss is overruled.
dissents, being of tbe opinion that, when Cambon Bros, learned, after tbe mandate of this court bad been filed for execution in tbe district court, that Mrs. Sutbon bad died before tbe judgment of this court was rendered, their remedy was, not to apply to this court, but to take proceedings against the codefendants, tbe Misses Sutbon, in tbe district court, to show that they were the heirs of Mrs. Sutbon and were therefore bound by tbe judgment rendered on the appeal, to which they were parties.
.136 La. xiii.
Opinion on the Merits
On the Merits.
On this second bearing, no argument having been offered on tbe merits of the case, and nothing new having developed on tbe merits, there is no occasion for discussing a second time the merits of tbe case.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the judgment appealed from herein be set aside, and that tbe injunction herein be dissolved both as sued out by Mrs. Lucius Suthon and her daughters, and that they pay tbe costs of this appeal, except .the cost of citing tbe said daughters of Mrs. Suthon in their quality of beirs of their mother, which are to be paid by Cambon Bros.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CAMBON BROS. v. SUTHON SUTHON v. CAMBON BROS.
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Bdiiorial Staf.) 1. Abatement and revival 69 — Appeal and error &wkey;>334(l) — Judgment rendered or action taken after death of party null and void. Ordinarily the death of either party to the ■suit would cause it to lapse, but under Code Prac. arts. 21, 120, and rule 17 (67 South, xi1), proceedings on death of party shall continue valid as far as they have gone, and shall remain in court subject to be proceeded with as ■soon as the legal representatives of the deceased party have made themselves, or have been made, parties, and where party dies pending appeal all proceedings taken up to the , death ■are valid, but any judgment rendered after the death is null and void, except where the personal representative of the deceased has been brought in as a party. 2. Appeal and error 801(3) — Death of party and acceptance of succession with benefit of inventory no ground for dismissing appeal. It is no ground for dismissal of appeal on •death of a party pending appeal that heirs have accepted the succession of the decedent with benefit of inventory, and^hat therefore no suit can be prosecuted against them individually as heirs of the succession; such being a question to be considered on the merits and not on motion to dismiss. 3. Appeal and error 805 — Failure to make legal representatives of deceased appellee parties showed no abandonment of appeal. That plaintiffs and appellants failed to make -the legal representatives of a certain party appellee parties at the time of her death pending .appeal, or prior to the hearing of the case on the appeal and judgment, although they knew •of the death, was no ground for dismissal of the appeal under a claim that the parties thereby abandoned the appeal. 4. Appeal and error Abandonment of an appeal must be the result of consent, of a conscious operation of the will, or it must be the result of some positive law. On the Merits. 5. Costs Where a judgment in favor of a widow and her daughters was reversed after the widow died pending appeal and without her personal representatives being made parties, and hence the judgment of reversal was binding on the daughters, the appellant should bear the cost of citing the daughters on a second hearing of the appeal, brought about by reason of the invalidity of the reversal as to the representatives of the deceased widow. O’Niell, J., dissenting as to denial of motion to dismiss appeal.